Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library
By: Noah Lenstra
Lenstra, N. (2020). Student wellness through physical activity promotion in the academic library.
In S. Holder & A. Lannon (Eds.), Student wellness and academic libraries: Case studies andactivities for promoting health and success (pp. 223-240). ACRL.
Published here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY4.0); https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Abstract:
A review of the literature written by academic librarians about how and why they promote
physical activity reveals three types of initiatives: special programs, new uses of library spaces,
and new collections. Libraries now offer yoga during finals, install treadmill desks in study
spaces, and check out things like bicycles. In most cases, librarians develop these initiatives
through partnerships with other campus entities. This emerging trend is contextualized within themove to support student wellness and the whole student within academic libraries. Through thesenew physical activity initiatives, the library becomes part of the broader fabric that supports
student wellness and student success. More conversations around wellness and well-being (forboth staff and students) should be happening in academic libraries, and these conversations
should include physical activity. This chapter provides the evidence needed to begin thoseconversations.
Keywords: wellness | academic libraries | physical activity | physical movement
Chapter:***Note: Full text of chapter below

Chapter 12

Student Wellness
through Physical
Activity Promotion in
the Academic LibraryNoah Lenstra
Abstract
A review of the literature written by academic librarians about how
and why they promote physical activity reveals three types of initiatives:
special programs, new uses of library spaces, and new collections. Libraries now offer yoga during finals, install treadmill desks in study spaces,
and check out things like bicycles. In most cases, librarians develop these
initiatives through partnerships with other campus entities. This emerging
trend is contextualized within the move to support student wellness andthe whole student within academic libraries. Through these new physical activity initiatives, the library becomes part of the broader fabricthat supports student wellness and student success. More conversations
around wellness and well-being (for both staff and students) should be
happening in academic libraries, and these conversations should include
physical activity. This chapter provides the evidence needed to begin thoseconversations.

Introduction
To advertise its week-long “De-Stress for Success Campaign” in December 2018, theUniversity of Tennessee at Knoxville Libraries created a special logo consisting of four
figures that represent four facets of how the library supports students during academic
223

224 Chapter 12

finals (figure 12.1): (1) a dog, representing therapy dogs; (2) a light bulb, representing
ideas generated with academic support; (3) a flower, representing massages and free
food; and (4) a human figure in yoga’s lotus pose, representing the library’s “living room”
initiative, with fun physical activities throughout the week.1 Around the same time, theNanyang Technological University Library in Singapore unveiled its #NTUsgLibraryCares
campaign, oriented around an acrostic of the word CARES: with C for Creativity, A for
Academic Resources and Services, R for Rejuvenation, E for Exercise, and S for Social (figure12.2).2 To support exercise, the library has GreenBikes, stationary bicycles that students
can pedal to exercise and to charge their electronic devices.

Figure 12.1
Logo for “De-Stress for Success Campaign.” Courtesy University
Libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library 225

Figure 12.2
Logo for #NTUsgLibraryCares campaign. Courtesy Nanyang Technology University Singapore Libraries.

226

Chapter 12

These two figures succinctly represent the orienting idea of this chapter: that physical activity is, and should be, part of the conversation about how academic librarians
support student success. This literature review explores this idea and analyzes how andwhy academic libraries, primarily in the United States and Canada, support physicalactivity. This review is contextualized within a discussion of the concept of wellness.
The chapter concludes with a discussion of additional work needed to integrate physicalactivity into our conversations about student success.

Wellness in the Library
Since the 1970s, wellness, and related terminology such as whole person, integrative
health/medicine, and well-being, have become increasingly common in our societal
and medical discourses.3 Prior to the emergence of these concepts, the dominantmodel was one in which different institutions addressed different facets of personhood: You go to the gym to exercise your body, to the library to exercise your mind,
and to counseling for mental therapy. With these new concepts, however, boundaries
blur. There is now more of an expectation that all institutions will do a little bit to
support all dimensions of wellness, even as some institutions specialize more in somedimensions than others.
A sign of the arrival of this idea into the discourse of academic librarianship is Hinchcliffe and Wong’s 2010 article, “From Services-Centered to Student-Centered: A ‘Wellness Wheel’ Approach to Developing the Library as an Integrative Learning Commons.”4
Drawing upon the new theories introduced above, Hinchcliffe and Wong discussed how
academic librarians support six dimensions of wellness: spiritual, intellectual, emotional,
occupational, social, and physical. Hinchcliffe and Wong saw academic librarians supporting the physical dimension of wellness through programs, including “Yoga Study Break[s]”and walking challenges.5 In this framework, to support wellness requires academic librarians to, at the very least, think about how they could help support healthy physical activity. Physical activity—via the discourse of wellness—became part of the conversation inacademic librarianship.
This trend has been growing during at least the last fifteen years in academic libraries.
On the vanguard of this trend was Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, where administrative documents reveal that as early as 2002 librarians discussed including “a yoga/
stretch/dance/contemplation space”6 in their new library. When it finally opened in 2009,
the library included a cardio room, with ellipticals, exercise bikes, and rowing machinesthat students could use. Asked why he thought the library needed such a space, Goucher
President Sanford J. Ungar stated, “I think that if we are going to have a place where you
can do everything, exercise should be part of it.”7 In her study on the evolution of thisnew library, Cunningham interviewed a user services librarian who stated, “The idea was
to give students a reason to be in the library a long time,”8 and according to this librarianthat is precisely what happened. More students spend more time in the library after therenovations than before.

Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library 227

Putting Physical Activity into Practicein the Academic Library throughPartnerships
These new ideas can be seen in the contemporary practices of librarians at Wake Forest
University (WFU) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In a presentation on how theirlibrary supports the “whole student,” librarians discussed supporting physical wellness.9
The opening slide featured two images of moving in libraries: on the left, students doing
yoga in a reading room, and on the right students doing a conga line through the library.
The presentation then provided an overview of how the library supports physical wellness
through strategies such as (1) buying standing desks, Zenergy ball chairs, and FitBikes; (2)designating walking paths through the library; and (3) holding special programs such asyoga, Friday night dances, and humans versus zombies Nerf wars. The slides stated, “Thelibrary is always open to opportunities to contribute to the physical wellbeing of WFU
students and these can take many forms.”10
A review of the literature written by academic librarians about physical activity (table12.1) shows that in most cases (fifteen of the eighteen articles), librarians develop these
initiatives through partnerships. Through these partnerships, the library becomes partof the broader fabric that supports student wellness and student success. As Ramsey
and Aagard argued, “By parlaying their reputations as trusted information providers andcommunity centers, academic libraries can partner with more traditional campus healthproviders to be active and effective participants in this essential form of outreach.”11
This literature suggests that in addition to positively benefitting students, these partnerships enable academic librarians to learn new things. Alsop and Bergart argued instructional librarians can learn a lot by observing how fitness instructors structure their classes.
They concluded: “Just as most fitness classes include a relaxation and stretching portion
at the end of the class, incorporating simple wellness strategies such as stretch breaks andcontemplation into library instruction can help to create an atmosphere conducive tolearning.”12 Meanwhile, Wilkes discussed becoming an embedded librarian at the campus
rec center and as a result developing new relationships with students: “At first I was a bitout of my comfort zone.… It was definitely a different space to see students.”13 But she
found that sweating with students made her seem more approachable and available foracademic support.
Similarly, at the University of California, San Diego, efforts to increase physical activity
among library staff led to efforts to increase physical activity among students. In 2007,
the library started offering free yoga classes for its employees.14 Those classes continue tobe offered, and one spin-off has been efforts to integrate more physical activity into thelibrary. The library purchased two WalkStations (treadmill desks) in 2014, and they’vebeen well received and heavily used.15
In forming partnerships to develop these new initiatives, academic librarians have insome cases looked beyond obvious partners (i.e., the rec center). For instance, Roanoke

Squash court

Stationary bikes

Library Olympics

Incorporate
physical activity
into design oflibrary spaces

Dance & exercise
breaks including
yoga, Zumba

Yoga sessions

Aiken, Cadmus,
and Shapiro, “NotYour Parents’ Law
Library”

Chant, “Fit for the
Library”

Shreffler and Black,“Library Olympics”

DeClercq and
Cranz, “Moving
beyond SeatingCentered Learning
Environments”

Meyers-Martin andBorchard, “Finals
Stretch”

Rose, Godfrey, andRose, “Supporting
Student Wellness”

Partnerships acrosslibrary units

Fun student
engagement withthe libraryDe-stressing at thelibrary during finals

Part of libraries’
Finals Time
Programming

Student Services

Multiple campus
and non-campus
partners

Architecture
students

Psychology
Department

Study on effects
of exercise on
productivity andlearning

Incorporate healthy
movement into
sedentary library
activities

None specified

Goucher Facilities
Project Manager,
among others

Partners

Support leisure timerecreation

All-inclusive
Cardio Loft:library: library as
exercise equipment comprehensive
student center

Cunningham,“Athenaeum”

RationaleServices

ArticleSt. John’s,
Newfoundland

Multiple (279 libraries
surveyed)

Berkeley, California

Dayton, Ohio

Clemson, South
Carolina

Ithaca, New York

Towson, Maryland

Location

Memorial
University
Libraries

Multiple (279libraries surveyed)

UC East Asian
Library

University of
DaytonClemson
University’s
Cooper LibraryCornell University
Law Library

Goucher College

CampusTable 12.1
Articles by academic librarians on physical activities sponsored and supported by academic libraries (fullcitations included in the bibliography).

228 Chapter 12

WalkStations(treadmill desks)

Check out a bike at
the library

Goodson, “Walk It
Off”

Vilelle, “Uniquely
LendableCollections”

Student groups,
Campus Coalition
Government

Support healthliteracy, fill gap
created by lack of
on-campus reccenterAuberry, “PhysicalLiteracy in the
Library”

Fitness classes;
Health & Self Clubat the Library

None specified

Prolonged periodsof sitting linked tohealth problems

Bike desks,
Potlapalli, Exploringstanding desk,
the Possibility ofand under-desk
Alternative Desks
ellipticals

Campus Recreation;
Sustainability
Committee

San Diego, California

Librarians
Association of
the University ofCalifornia, San Diego
Division

Frequent user
requests for “active
seating”
Support active
transportation

Winston-Salem, North
Carolina

Student groups,
Athletics, Campus
Recreation

Libraries for the“whole student”:
physical wellness in
the library

Smith, Lock, andPrograms andWebb, “Library forspaces to support
the Whole Student” physical activity

Port St. Lucie, Florida

Houston, Texas

Roanoke, Virginia

Troy and Dothan,
Alabama

None specified

Exercise-study
hybrid bikes

Shaffer, “Sweatingin the Stacks”

Impact student
health andchallenge
stereotypicalperceptions of thelibrary

Location

Partners

RationaleServices

ArticleIndian River State
College

Fondren Library—
Rice University

Roanoke College’s
Fintel Library

UC San Diego
Library

Wake Forest
University

Troy University
Libraries

CampusTable 12.1
Articles by academic librarians on physical activities sponsored and supported by academic libraries (fullcitations included in the bibliography).
Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library 229

To bolster wellness
and connect to thehealth sciences
community

Active learningspace withtreadmill, standing,& cycling desks &balance chairs

Clement et al.,“Reading, Writing,and … Running?”

Casucci andBaluchi, “HealthFree yoga classes
Sciences Libraryfor ten weeks
Promotes Wellness”

To encourage
physical activity
while using library
space to promote
active learning

Exercise bikes

College of Health,Continuing
Education, &Campus Recreation

School ofInformation
Sciences

Environmental
health & safety;
insurance, risk
management.

Introduced to alignwith the university’s
health and wellness
initiatives

Power and Munro,“Exercise Bikes atthe Library”

Salt Lake City, Utah

Knoxville, TennesseeWindsor, Ontario

Tulsa, Oklahoma

College leadershipprovided extra
funding to create
space.

Meditation roomwith yoga matsand Zenergy ballchairsWachter, “A Space
Apart”

Reduce stress andanxiety for diverse
student body

Andover,
Massachusetts

Location

Exercise bicycles,
Office of Wellness“Holistic Mindfulness
Check-out Yoga &Education, Health &Initiative”
Gardening Supplies
Counseling Center

Partners

Eberle, “Bringing
Mindfulness to the
Academic Library”

RationaleServices

ArticleSpencer S. Eccles
Health Sciences
Library

University ofTennessee,
Knoxville

University ofWindsor’s Leddy
Library

Tulsa Community
College’s West
Campus Library

Merrimack
College’s
McQuade LibraryCampusTable 12.1
Articles by academic librarians on physical activities sponsored and supported by academic libraries (fullcitations included in the bibliography).

230 Chapter 12

Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library

College’s bike library developed from a partnership with the campus sustainability committee.16 Similarly, the University of Georgia’s Bulldog Bikes—check out a bicycle from oneof three university libraries—is a joint initiative between the campus sustainability officeand the campus libraries.17 And at Temple University in Philadelphia, the Sustainability
Office partnered with the library to offer a series of Goat Yoga programs to students in fall
2018, which had a goal of encouraging students to learn more about urban agriculture ina fun, engaging, and unexpected manner.18
Librarians also develop these activities to foster the idea that the library is a cool, andworthwhile, place in which to spend one’s time. At Kent State University in Ohio, thelibrary tweeted that its “Haunted Library” event would be “the biggest Halloween on
campus,” with a live DJ and dancing throughout the evening.19 Similarly, the librarian
responsible for bringing stationary bicycles to Troy University in Alabama stated that “itis important to find creative ways to bring people back to the library.”20 Others set out torepudiate stereotypical ideas that libraries are spaces only for the mind, and not for the
body. Writing on the Leddy Library’s recently installed study bikes, Power and Munro
stated that “libraries have long been thought of as places for exercising the mind, but study
bikes give students the option of getting a physical work-out too.”21This trend has been further developed by efforts to create recreational spaces in libraries. Aiken, Cadmus, and Shapiro discussed law librarians putting “increased emphasison collaborative and even in some instances recreational spaces in the library, like gamerooms with Ping-Pong and pool tables.”22 They discussed the fact that the Cornell University Law Library has a squash court within it, and included photographs of that squash
court being utilized, providing evidentiary weight to the fact that this form of intensive
physical activity is in fact taking place within an academic library.23
In still other places, these efforts represent a response to student interests and needs. For
instance, at Salem State University Library (Massachusetts), the librarians sent students asurvey in fall 2018 asking them what they would like to see the library offer during finals.
One of the options was yoga classes, and since this option received so many votes, thelibrary offered yoga during finals 2018.24 These types of services also emerge in response toneeds not being addressed elsewhere. In Florida, Indian River State College’s Pruitt Libraryoffers monthly Zumba and aerobic walking classes at the library. One of the reasons librarian Kendra Auberry gave to justify these services is the fact that there is no gym on thecampus she serves, and also that many students, because of their modest means, cannot
afford fitness options available elsewhere. Auberry and the library stepped into this voidby creating a Student Exercise Club (since renamed the Health and Self Club).25

Categorizing How Physical Activity
and Academic Librarianship Come
TogetherThis review of the literature found academic librarians support physical activity through (1)special programs, (2) new uses of space, and (3) new collections. Although comprehensive

231

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data does not exist, there is some evidence that special programs may be the most common
method academic librarians use to support physical activity. Meyers-Martin and Borchard
surveyed a self-selecting sample of 279 academic librarians about their finals week
programming. The survey did not explicitly ask about physical activity programming;
options provided included therapy animals, movies, nap spaces, arts and crafts, social
media, gaming, or other. Nevertheless, fully 47 percent of respondents selected the “other”
category and wrote in that they offer programs ranging from chair massages to “danceand exercise breaks including yoga, Zumba and hula hoops.”26
To investigate the prevalence of this type of programming, I conducted an informal
study during December 2018 to see how physical activity was being supported during
academic finals. Using Twitter, I conducted nightly keyword searches during the first three
weeks of December for terms like “libraries” and “finals” or “libraries” and “yoga” to see
what types of special programs academic libraries were offering.27 Among the results ofthis study were the Brain Break program at the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library that
invited students to enjoy fun fitness activities led by staff from campus rec at the library.
In Scotland, the University of Glasgow Libraries invited students to meet at the library atnoon every day during finals for a one-mile run. Academic libraries also had special exercise bike programs at Nicholls State University’s Ellender Memorial Library in Thibodaux,
Louisiana, and at Merrimack College’s McQuade Library in Massachusetts. Yale University’s Bass Library invited students to “Recharge …with a free Zumba class at the library.”28
Finally, it seemed that yoga was being offered everywhere, with special yoga programs at
the University of Lincoln (United Kingdom); Old Dominion University Library (Virginia);
the University of Michigan at Flint’s Library; Arapahoe Community College Library(Colorado); Adelphi University Libraries (New York); Georgia Tech Library; Jacksonville State University’s Houston Cole Library (Alabama); Marquette University’s Library(Milwaukee); Saint Anselm College’s Library (New Hampshire); University of Nevada Las
Vegas Library; California State University, Chico’s Meriam Library; Mount Royal University Library (Calgary); the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s SILS Library;
Lone Star College Library (Texas); the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Art Library;
the University of Maryland, Baltimore; and Brandeis University’s Library (Massachusetts).
Even though we still do not know how common these types of special programs havebecome, we do have clear, if anecdotal, evidence that these types of programs are being
offered in a wide variety of academic libraries in many parts of the US and Canada, andbeyond. More research is needed to generate more comprehensive data on this trend.

New Uses of SpaceIn addition to offering special programs, academic libraries also support physical activity through space redesigns. For instance, DeClercq and Cranz discussed University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, librarians working with architecture students to identify how library
spaces could support physical activity. They concluded that academic libraries should strive
to have “a mix of furniture options that together welcome a variety of healthy postures” aswell as “rooms where students can stretch” and other “opportunities to introduce physicalStudent Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library 233

activity into library settings.”29 Toward this end, librarians elsewhere have installed FitDesk
study bikes and Desk Treadmills, while others have created walking routes that encourage
students to get up and go for a walk in the library.30 At Walsh University in Ohio, librarians
worked with University Wellness to create laminated guides that were placed on tables
throughout the library, and also attached to the walls (figure 12.3). These guides show easy
exercises, such as body weight lunges, that can be done in the library.31

Figure 12.3
Exercise suggestions for the library. Courtesy Megan K. Allen, Directorof University Wellness, Walsh University.
There has also been a growth of spaces created both for meditation and movement.
The literature on these spaces tends to emphasize their contemplative role as spaces forquiet and stillness,32 but evidence suggests these spaces also facilitate, and are designed
for, movement and healthy physical activity. For instance, in fall 2018, McGill University in Montreal unveiled its new Tranquility Zone. In addition to relaxing seating andmeditation spaces, the Zone also includes stability balls, foam rollers, yoga blocks, and234 Chapter 12

trigger point massage balls, suggesting that the purpose of the room encompasses bothstillness and movement.33 Similar purposes can be discerned in the University of Toronto
Library’s Reflection Room. According to the library’s website, as well as the flyer postedon the physical entrance to the room, acceptable “activities welcome in the room” include“prayer, meditation, yoga, [and] mindfulness.”34 Again, we see physical activity and meditative stillness intertwined in these new spaces.

New Collections
The mixing of mindfulness and movement also appears in Merrimack College’s McQuade
Library in Massachusetts. There, the library started “a holistic mindfulness initiative” that
included, among other things, purchasing four exercise bicycles “for students to take anactive and mindful break from their studies” and assembling kits that students can checkout for physically active pursuits such as yoga and gardening.35 Similarly, the Medical
Library at East Tennessee State University embraced this trend by purchasing twenty yoga
mats and four bicycles that can be checked out from the library. In addition, “the librarybasement includes a room with several spin bikes and hand weights for in-library use.”36
The library’s website states that “these items are provided as part of the library’s commitment to supporting our students, faculty, and staff as whole people.”37 Here again, we see
physical activity incorporated into academic library space designs focused on health,wellness and the “whole person.”Vilelle discussed Roanoke College’s bike library, where, as of 2016, there had been
275 checkouts per bike, per year, between 2010 and 2016.38 According to the librarians,
the bikes are constantly in use during periods of good weather. Academic libraries also
check out bicycles at the University of Georgia, East Tennessee State University, Keene
State College in New Hampshire, and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, among
other locations.39 In addition, at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, and at the
University of Maryland, libraries check out a variety of sports and fitness equipment for
students to use.40 Discussing law libraries, Aiken, Cadmus and Shapiro wrote that “it isalso not unusual at the law libraries at Yale or Cornell to find non-traditional items available for check out. Patrons can borrow, for example, bicycles, soccer balls, soccer goals,”41
suggesting these types of collections are becoming increasingly common in law libraries.

Discussion: Making Movement Part of
the Conversation
At this point, one may reasonably ask this question: Why focus on the physical dimensions of wellness in the academic library? An answer to this question appears in recent
work in public health that has identified physical inactivity as a pivotal issue of our time.
The World Health Organization (WHO), and most other public health organizations,
now recognize physical inactivity as one of the most intractable public health crises. Dr.
Regina Guthold, a lead author of a 2018 WHO study on this topic, stated, “Unlike othermajor global health risks, levels of insufficient physical activity are not falling worldwide,

Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library 235

on average, and over a quarter of all adults are not reaching the recommended levels ofphysical activity for good health.”42 In other words, despite increased knowledge of thehealth and wellness benefits of regular physical activity, if anything this problem is getting
worse, not better.
In the context of this public health crisis, it is wrong to assume that this issue is someone
else’s problem. Everyone has a part to play in addressing this issue, as the WHO argued in
its recently unveiled campaign Let’s Be Active: Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday.43 Gone
are the days in which physical activity promotion could be relegated to specific times (e.g.,physical education classes) and spaces (e.g., gyms and rec centers). Summarizing recent
research on this topic, Cregan-Reid wrote that “we need to build activity into our everyday lives, not just leave it for the gym.”44 This is especially true among college students.
Recent research published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, as reported by NPR, foundthat “young women, especially young women of color, tend to get less exercise than theirmale counterparts, and the disparities worsen after high school ends.”45
Being physically active throughout life requires learning, as recent work on physicalliteracy points out.46 This fact is sometimes overlooked in commentary that frames movement as mindless (think of the classic dichotomy wherein we are exhorted to exercise ourminds at the library as we exercise our bodies at the gym). We are also awash in toxic
images of body shaming and ableist discourses that imply physical activity is only for
those with certain abilities and in which the presumed goal is to look a particular way.47 In
the context of these problematic discourses, college students need to learn to see regularphysical activity as a core component of overall wellness. From a public health perspective,
the goals of increasing physical activity are to enable myriad health benefits (including
mental health benefits), regardless of how one looks and regardless of one’s abilities.
Academic libraries could (and in some places already do) play a unique role in campus
initiatives to promote healthy physical activity. Academic libraries could do more to
support healthy movement by creating programs to try out new forms of physical activity
in spaces that may be seen by some as safer and less threatening than a more traditional
gym and by partnering with other campus entities to educate students and library staff
about how to live balanced lives that include regular physical activity as part of thatbalance. The opportunities are many, but to activate these opportunities we first need tomake physical activity part of the conversation by actively engaging with potential partners
on our campuses and by communicating with students (as Salem State University did) todevelop programs and to let them know that these options are available.
These efforts could be jump-started by beginning the conversation among library staff.
The efforts of American Library Association President Loida Garcia-Febo to highlightphysical activity programs for library staff in places such as Smith College and Merrimack
College illustrate the type of initiative that could develop into efforts to support physicalactivity among students (as they did at the University of California, San Diego).48 Documents such as the National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity’s Healthy Meeting Toolkit
could be used as starting points for discussing physical activity as an intrinsic dimensionof wellness, for both staff and patrons.49

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Furthermore, we also need much more research on this trend. This chapter only
scratches the surface. Future research on programming in academic libraries, especiallyduring finals, needs to look into physical activity programming. We also need more dataon the incorporation of physical activity into space designs and collections. Finally, weneed case studies and other research that investigates the impacts of these efforts. Nevertheless, this chapter has shown that these services are being developed and offered, typically with partners, by academic librarians throughout North America, and beyond.

Conclusions
This chapter has attempted to push forward the conversation on physical activity inacademic libraries by showcasing and discussing some of the services academic libraries
currently offer, and some of the reasons why they are offered. Will (or should) every
academic library have exercise equipment and yoga classes? The answer is no. But should
these (and other things discussed above) be options academic librarians consider whengoing through planning processes? The answer is yes. If movement is not part of ourconversation, then innovation in this sector is impossible. The question is not Do I now
have to become a yoga instructor to become an academic librarian? The question is How
do I form, leverage, sustain, and assess partnerships that will enable my library to havea positive impact on wellness (including physical wellness), and therefore success? Moreconversations around wellness and well-being (for staff and students) should be happeningin academic libraries, and these conversations should include physical activity.

Notes

1. UT Libraries (@UTKLibraries), “Looking for a #DeStressForSuccess calendar?” Twitter, December 6,
2018, 10:50 a.m., https://twitter.com/UTKLibraries/status/1070752449403777030.
2. NTU Library (@NTUsgLibrary), “NTU Library Cares!” Twitter, November 22, 2018, 7:22 p.m.,https://twitter.com/NTUsgLibrary/status/1065807845470306304.
3. Eeva Sointu, “The Search for Wellbeing in Alternative and Complementary Health
Practices,” Sociology of Health and Illness 28, no. 3 (April 2006): 330–49, https://doi.
org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2006.00495.x.
4. Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe and Melissa Autumn Wong, “From Services-Centered to Student-Centered: A‘Wellness Wheel’ Approach to Developing the Library as an Integrative Learning Commons,” Collegeand Undergraduate Libraries 17, no. 2–3 (2010): 213–24.
5. Hinchliffe and Wong, “From Services-Centered to Student-Centered,” 220.
6. Courtney M. Cunningham, “The Athenaeum: A Modern Model for Academic Library Design”(master’s paper, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2012), 34, https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/record/
uuid:a6af61da-a840-428c-a8bd-2d9c1cd6aacd.
7. Sanford J. Ungar, quoted in Scott Carlson, “Is It a Library?―A Student Center? The Athenaeum Opens
at Goucher College,” Chronicle of Higher Education, September 14, 2009, A17.
8. Cunningham, “Athenaeum,” 45.
9. Susan Sharpless Smith, Mary Beth Lock, and Meghan Webb, “A Library for the
Whole Student: Creating a Culture of Health and Wellness at Your Library,”
ACRL e-Learning Webcasts, webinar, May 10, 2016, https://docs.google.com/
presentation/d/1AIbGK4fmxnezhPkgXy72m5dlO6jXpFdPxioNfIJbtCc.
10. Smith, Lock and Webb, “Library for the Whole Student,”14.

Student Wellness through Physical Activity Promotion in the Academic Library 237

11. Elizabeth Ramsey and Mary C. Aagard, “Academic Libraries as Active Contributors to Student Wellness,” College and Undergraduate Libraries 25, no. 4 (2018): 328, https://doi.org/10.1080/10691316.20
18.1517433.
12. Justine Alsop and Robin Bergart, “Aerobics and Library Instruction: An Unexpected Fit,” College andUndergraduate Libraries 14, no. 3 (2007): 126.
13. Bethany Wilkes, “Let’s Work Out! Getting out of the Library and into New Collaborations andContexts,” College and Research Libraries News 77, no. 7 (2016): 334.
14. Kymberly Anne Goodson, “The Beneﬁt and Implementation of an Employee Yoga Program,” in Job
Stress and the Librarian: Coping Strategies from the Professionals, ed. Carol Smallwood and Linda
Burkey Wade (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2013), 63.
15. Kimberly Anne Goodson, “Walk It Off: Assessing Use of WalkStations in the Library” (poster presentation, Library Assessment Conference: Building Effective, Sustainable, Practical Assessment Association of Research Libraries, Arlington, VA, October 31–November 2, 2016), https://escholarship.org/
uc/item/5cq0d1bd.
16. Luke Vilell, “Uniquely Lendable Collections,” Virginia Libraries 62, no. 1 (2017), http://dx.doi.
org/10.21061/valib.v62i1.1577.
17. Sustainable UGA, “Bulldog Bike Share,” Office of Sustainability, University of Georgia, accessed January 27, 2018, https://sustainability.uga.edu/operations/transportation/bulldogbikes.
18. Temple University Libraries, Goat Yoga, accessed January 29, 2020, https://events.temple.edu/
goat-yoga.
19. Kent State University Libraries (@KentState_LIB), “Do you have your costume ready for The Haunted
Library, the biggest Halloween party on campus?” Twitter, October 19, 2018, 8:32 a.m., https://twitter.
com/KentState_LIB/status/1053307864809381893.
20. Christopher Shaffer, “Sweating in the Stacks: University Library Offers Exercise Bikes for Student
Use,” American Libraries, May 2, 2016, https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2016/05/02/
sweating-in-stacks.
21. Helen Power and Sharon Munro, “Exercise Bikes at the Library: We Can Work It Out,” Open Shelf(blog), January 29, 2018, http://open-shelf.ca/180201-ocula-exercise-bikes-at-the-library.
22. Julian Aiken, Femi Cadmus, and Fred Shapiro, “Not Your Parents’ Law Library: A Tale of Two
Academic Law Libraries,” Green Bag (2nd series) 16, no. 1 (Autumn 2012): 18, https://scholarship.law.
cornell.edu/facpub/655.
23. Aiken, Cadmus, and Shapiro, “Not Your Parents’ Law Library,” 20.
24. Salem State University Library, “Thank you for taking our events survey,” Facebook, December 12,
2018, https://www.facebook.com/SalemStateUniversityLibrary/posts/2451176961565077.
25. Kendra Auberry, “Physical Literacy in the Library,” (slides from presentation, Association of Florida
Colleges [AFC] Chapter Meeting at Indian River State College, Fort Pierce, FL, April 26, 2018),
https://irsc.libguides.com/healthylibrary.
26. Coleen Meyers-Martin and Laurie Borchard, “The Finals Stretch: Exams Week Library Outreach
Surveyed,” Reference Services Review 43, no. 4 (2015): 518.
27. For full information on all the programs mentioned in this paragraph, refer to Noah Lenstra,“December 2018 Newsletter,” Let’s Move in Libraries, UNC Greensboro School of Education,accessed January 29, 2020, http://letsmovelibraries.org/newsletter-december-2018.
28. Bass Library (@BassLibrary), “RECHARGE tonight with a free ZUMBA class at Yale Library!” Twitter, December 10, 2018, 12:47 p.m., https://twitter.com/BassLibrary/status/1072231286390120448.
29. Caitlin P. DeClercq and Galen Cranz, “Moving beyond Seating-Centered Learning Environments:
Opportunities and Challenges Identified in a POE of a Campus Library,” Journal of Academic Librarianship 40, no. 6 (2014): 582.
30. Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, “Walking Trails,” Daily Harold (blog), November 17, 2017, http://thedailyharoldblog.tumblr.com/post/167594866686/walking-trails; Laurence
McKinley Gould Library, Carleton College, “Walk the Libe 2018,” accessed January 29, 2020, https://
gouldguides.carleton.edu/walkthelibe.
31. Megan K. Allen, personal communication via telephone, December 13, 2018.
32. E.g., Ronnie Wachter, “A Space Apart: College Libraries Contemplate Meditation Rooms,”
American Libraries, January 2, 2018, https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/01/02/
library-meditation-rooms-space-apart.

238 Chapter 12

33. Sharon Rankin, “Tranquility Zone: New Library Space,” McLennan Post, McGill University Humanities and Social Sciences Library, November 20, 2018, https://blogs.library.mcgill.ca/hsslibrary/
tranquility-zone-new-library-space.
34. University of Toronto Libraries, “Robarts Library Reflection Room,” accessed January 29, 2020,
https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/robarts-multifaith-space.
35. Eberle, Michelle, “Bringing Mindfulness to the Academic Library,” Community Engagement Blog:
Massachusetts Library System, July 23, 2018, https://www.masslibsystem.org/blog/2018/07/23/
bringing-mindfulness-to-the-academic-library.
36. East Tennessee State University, “Bike Share and Yoga Mats Available at the Library,” accessed January
29, 2020, https://www.etsu.edu/news/medical_library/bikesandyoga18.aspx.
37. East Tennessee State University, “Bike Share and Yoga Mats.”
38. Vilelle, “Uniquely Lendable.”
39. Noah Lenstra, “Bike Check-Out: Coming Soon to a Library Near You?” Public
Libraries Online, March 10, 2018, http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2018/03/
bike-check-out-coming-soon-to-a-library-near-you.
40. Meredith College, “Library Resources for De-stressing during Finals,” April 25, 2017, https://www.
meredith.edu/news/library-resources-for-de-stressing-during-finals; Maryland Today Staff, “Unlikely
Library Loans: Students Needing Study Break Can Borrow Sports Equipment,” Maryland Today,
Office of Strategic Communications, University o Maryland, December 7, 2018, https://today.umd.
edu/articles/unlikely-library-loans-748bf068-cf9d-4f05-8e00-f546a8c6d3b6.
41. Aiken, Cadmus, and Shapiro, “Not Your Parents’ Law Library,” 19.
42. Regina Guthold, quoted in Alex Therrien, “Lack of Exercise Puts One in Four People at Risk, WHO
Says,” BBC News, September 5, 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45408017.
43. World Health Organization, “WHO Launches Global Action Planon Physical Activity,” June 4, 2018, https://www.who.int/news-room/
detail/04-06-2018-who-launches-global-action-plan-on-physical-activity.
44. Vybarr Cregan-Reid, “Why Exercise Alone Won’t Save Us,” Guardian, January 3, 2019, https://www.
theguardian.com/news/2019/jan/03/why-exercise-alone-wont-save-us.
45. Sara Kiley Watson, “After High School, Young Women’s Exercise Rates Plunge,” NPR,
June 11, 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/06/11/618878274/
after-high-school-young-womens-exercise-rates-plunge.
46. Jenn Carson, Get Your Community Moving (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2018).
47. Brian Pronger, Body Fascism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press: 2002).
48. Betsy Barone, “Promoting Wellness at Smith College,” ALA-APA Wellness, accessed January 29, 2020,
http://ala-apa.org/wellness/stories/promoting-wellness-at-smith-college.
49. Center for Science in the Public Interest, “Healthy Meetings,” accessed January 29, 2020, https://cspinet.org/protecting-our-health/nutrition/healthy-meetings.

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